Reform is afoot in the Vatican. Pope Francis has tightened the reins on the Vatican bank, worked through a gruelling visit to Brazil, named a new secretary of state, and is now busy preparing for the October meeting of cardinals who will advise him on how to breathe new life into the Catholic Church. The Read more
There is proof the footage of the alleged chemical attack in Syria was fabricated, Mother Agnes Mariam el-Salib, mother superior of St. James Monastery in Qara, Syria, told RT. She says she is about to submit her findings to the UN. Mother Agnes, a catholic nun, who has been living in Syria for 20 years Read more
As a public personality, our new prime minister is an involuntary paradox. On the one hand, Tony Abbott is one of the most discussed people in Australia. On the other, much of the discussion is so ill-informed that it conceals, rather than illuminates. Yet the reality is that Abbott almost certainly is one of the Read more
After being shot at close range by saloonkeeper John Schrank, a serious fan of term limits, Theodore Roosevelt continued with his scheduled campaign speech, the bullet still lodged in his chest. “It takes more than that to bring down a Bull Moose,” he said, speaking for an hour before consenting to medical treatment. Self-confidence, resilience, Read more
By May of this year, Jacob Barnett had wrung everything he could get out of the university he had been attending for four years in his home state of Indiana. He had taken every undergraduate course on mathematics and physics, and a bunch of graduate-level courses too. None of it had even slowed Jacob down. Read more
With its giant spires and magnificent dome to rival that of St Peter’s Basillica, Mejorada del Campo’s impressive cathedral looks like it has been skilfully crafted by a team of architectural experts. It’s impossible to believe that it has been single-handedly built by a former trappist monk who had never laid a brick in his Read more
School can be both an exciting and a challenging experience. A young person’s experience of school is influenced by many factors, such as peer relationships, learning ability and family life. Problems in these areas can lead a young person to develop a negative experience of school. Actively avoiding school, either by not attending or not Read more
A word of warning to those who write personal notes to Pope Francis: He might just call you back. Francis has charmed the masses with his informal style, simplicity and sense of humour – and a handful of strangers have gotten the treatment up close, receiving papal phone calls out of the blue after writing Read more
The former Franciscan Friar, Leonardo Boff, the leading representative of the Liberation Theology movement – or what remains of it – is simply the latest in the list of individuals who have asked for a Third Vatican Council to be held. He made this request in an article published in Brazilian daily, Jornal do Brasil, Read more
San Salvador. In the bright morning sunlight of March 24 1980, a car stopped outside the Church of the Divine Providence. A lone gunman stepped out, unhurried. Resting his rifle on the car door, he aimed carefully down the long aisle to where El Salvador’s archbishop, Oscar Arnulfo Romero, was saying mass. A single shot Read more